Marner continues to make excuses after Leafs choke in Game 7

Talk, talk, talk... that's all this guy does...

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HockeyFeed
Published 2 years ago
Marner continues to make excuses after Leafs choke in Game 7

The Toronto Maple Leafs' 2020-21 season is officially over after losing a winner take all Game 7 yesterday evening against the Montreal Canadiens. The Leafs, of course, had a 3-1 series lead over the Habs and dropped three straight decisions to cough up the series and send them to another early offseason.

Leafs forward Mitch Marner is drawing the ire of most Leafs fans this evening after his brutal turnover lead to the game's opening goal. But, more than that the entirety of Marner's playoff career with the Leafs has been abysmal and that's mostly what Leafs fans are latching onto. He has just five playoff goals in six seasons and has gone goalless in the last two post-seasons. All that for $15 million per season...

In his post-game availability Marner didn't have many concrete reasons for the Leafs' post-season struggles, but did come close to shouldering some responsibility.

Check it out:


It's unclear whether or not Marner made this comment while resting on a pile of $100 bills, but I assume not...

In all seriousness, it's clear that this loss has been difficult for Marner and that the losing is starting to get to him. But, and maybe I'm just overanalyzing things here, he doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who can move past things easily because he's a very self-centered individual. 

I mean... just look at this post-game comment and count the times he uses the word "I":


To me, that's a guy with a singular focus: himself.

Again, maybe I'm overanalyzing things, but there's clearly something deficient with the way the Leafs go about their business. Maybe Marner is part of the problem, or maybe he's just a symptom of a bigger problem? From the outside looking in though, there seems to be a real sense of entitlement amongst their star players and that's what gets them into trouble when they don't deliver. You can talk a big game and puff your chest up all you like, but when Judgement Day comes you have to deliver. Some of the game's all-time best had a supreme confidence in themselves and their abilities, but they walked the talk. Marner has a long way to go until he can claim the same.